This past week was UnLearn Week at Calvin, or more accurately it was the start of UnLearn 365. During UnLearn Week students are invited to come together to discuss race and culture and what those things mean to us personally and more broadly in our world today. This week gives us a safe space to talk through hard topics and ask questions we may not normally feel comfortable to.
During this past week there was a panel called Lunch and Learn where students were broken up into small groups of strangers and asked to answer a few simple, but deep questions. I was a bit nervous about the people part, but I was also excited for new perspectives, so I answered each question honestly in the hopes of making other people more comfortable. And honestly I was surprised by some of their answers.
The second question asked us about our cultural backgrounds, family traditions, and how they shaped who we are today. I paired with another girl at the table and realized how little I knew about Dutch heritage, despite being at a majority Dutch school. I was in a place that I perceived to be so overwhelmingly Dutch and CRC that I forgot to actually learn about the culture and the people. I shared my cultural background with her and was pleased to find that both of our family traditions had more to do with being a part of our families than our ethnic cultures.
The last question (also the sixth question) that was asked surprised me the most in terms of answers. We were asked about our experiences with discrimination of any sort for any reason. I shared a story about being followed around in a corner store that my siblings and I frequented near our house. My brother ended up being kicked out. It wasn’t a big deal to me, but the responses of my group mates made me feel as if it should have been which shocked me in itself. I was even more shocked when no one else at my table could think of a single time they might have been discriminated against: even though I was at a table of mostly women. When I mentioned this to a friend later, they pointed out to me that discrimination isn’t always apparent and sometimes it’s so normal that we just kind of shrug it off.
During this past week I was grateful for talks like this. I was eager to learn about my peers and glad to see a willingness to understand one another. It’s because of conversations like these that I have hope when I look through my Facebook feed. I’m reminded in these moments that everything is temporary, eventually all things pass. But in the meantime we have to work to get through the time we are in. UnLearn Week was just the kickoff, I’m looking forward to UnLearn 365 and growing through these conversations.
